


It's Just a Holiday Now

by mirthfulwoman



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: 2006 Xmas The Runaway Bride, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:19:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3686817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirthfulwoman/pseuds/mirthfulwoman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What did the Doctor and Donna talk about on top of the flood barrier while waiting for the water to recede?</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Just a Holiday Now

**Author's Note:**

> It goes a bit AU at the end, but I suppose that it has to do with the original prompt idea.

Donna looked at the Doctor. She was standing in a soaked wedding dress, on top of the Thames flood barrier, trying to make sense of the last few hours.

She moved to find some way to sit on the precipice they balanced on. Sensing what she wanted, the Doctor helped her

This man was an alien. He scared her with his intensity, but without even knowing him all that long, she had been willing to put his life before hers. Had she ever been that invested in someone before? A shiver shook her body as she remembered stepping between him and those guns.

The Doctor shed his coat, placing it on her shoulders, exactly as he had earlier on the rooftop.

“Sorry it can’t offer much warmth. Not exactly waterproof.”

Donna just shrugged as he settled himself next to her.

“It’ll take the TARDIS a little while to pump the water out so we can get to her. So, umm, I guess, you just have to put up with me for a time longer. I know you probably just want to get away from here and back to your family.”

He was babbling. He knew he was, but he didn’t know what else to say to her. He was embarrassed that he had lost himself so thoroughly down in the tunnels. He had scared himself. What if Donna hadn’t been there and what the hell must she think of him now? She had even stepped in front of guns for him. And she hadn’t even liked him then. What’s to say she even liked him now? He blew out a long breath, and rubbed his hands on his face.

_I can’t be alone._

Donna saw his movements. He looked so lost. But she had no idea what to say to him. But she couldn’t just sit there saying nothing.

“Your friend, how long ago did you lose her?”

The Doctor looked at her through his fingers. Slowing pulling his hands down his face.

“Three weeks.”

“I’m sorry. That's not a long time at all.” She leaned onto his shoulder, putting her arm around his back.

“No. It’s not. But sometimes it feels like eons have passed.”

“Tell me about it. About her.” She said sympathetically.

“Oh you don’t want to listen to me waffle on about losing a friend, when you’ve just lost…” The Doctor trailed off thinking that reminding Donna of Lance’s betrayal wasn’t necessarily the best course of action. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t.” She waved him off. She adjusted so she was no longer leaning on the Doctor. He missed the warmth her body gave him. “I guess I really should have known better. I mean look at me. Too old, too fat, too ginger, too stupid. Why would someone like Lance pay that much attention to me without a sinister ulterior motive?”

The last words came out in a sob. Donna folded in on herself, sobbing into her hands, bent over to her knees. How could she have been so stupid?

The Doctor reached out to her. His hand patting her back, before lifting her and pulling her to his chest, whispering to her that she was none of those things. She was brilliant and brave and just the perfect shade of ginger. He let her cry, just holding her until her breathing evened from the hiccupping sobs. She clung to his shirt for a while. He feared she had fallen asleep.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled into his shirt. “We were supposed to be talking about you and now I’ve gone and gotten snot all over your shirt.”

“Ehh, that’s what washing machines are for. Or,” he reached into the pocket of his trousers pulling out the sonic screwdriver, “setting 683. As for me, I’m always alright.” His lips barely moved to even look like a smile.

Donna looked out at the city. What was she to do now? She was supposed to be on a plane to Morocco with her new husband. The first Christmas she would truly enjoy in years. Now it was just another thing in a long line of things Donna Noble would miss out on.

She glanced over at the Doctor. He was doing a poor job of looking “alright”. His shoulders were hunched, his fingers fiddling with the sonic screwdriver, his eyes looking at nothing. Here was a man who looked miserable. Donna’s life may have been thrown upside down an hour ago, but this man was drifting, and had been for weeks.

Donna blew out a sharp breath.

“So, it turns out I have a holiday in Morocco that’s already been paid for. I have a fiancé who was about to turn me over to a giant spider, and you’ve got a box that can travel in time and space.”

The Doctor looked up at her questionably. He hadn’t heard a word she’d said. He’d been too busy trying to figure out a way to not be alone anymore. How could he convince her to go with him?

“What?”

“I have a room, you have transportation. What do you say we go heal our broken hearts over mojitos in Morocco? With your time machine, I could still be home in time for Christmas dinner tonight, to set mum and dad’s minds at ease.”

The blank look on the Doctor’s face told Donna more than enough.

“Never mind, it was a stupid idea. I just…forget I said anything.” She quieted.

“No, oh Donna. That’s, that’s a great idea!” His face lit up. Here it was, his problem solved and he didn’t even have to convince her of anything! It was her idea! Oh, this could not have worked out any better for him.

He tried to hop up, but almost fell down the hole.

“Oi. Hold up there Spaceman.”

The Doctor looked at her a bit sheepishly.

“Sorry, just a bit excited. I wanted to get going.”

“But you didn’t even look like you wanted to go. How could you possibly have changed your mind so suddenly?” Donna asked him.

“Truthfully Donna, I’ve been wracking my brain since we got up here trying to come up with some way of not being alone. I’m not at my best when I’m alone. You saw that down there. I very nearly drowned down there. If you hadn’t been there, I very well might have. I need someone, and I want you.”

Donna sucked in a breath. He wanted her?! Donna Noble, fat, stupid, ginger Donna Noble?! That couldn’t possibly be right. Did he have a giant scorpion hiding somewhere that needed feeding? She wanted to believe him, she really did. But could she? She looked over at his hopeful, earnest face. She could go on her honeymoon with this daft alien. They’d heal their broken hearts, and then she could come home and take care of her dad, without missing a precious moment with him.

“Alright. What have I got to lose, eh?”

The Doctor leaned back to peer down the hole. The water had abated. He grabbed Donna’s hand.

“Morocco awaits. Allons y!”


End file.
